It is no news that translators’ history is often very hard to come by: translators may not be famous (unlike some of the authors they translate), their archives may be hidden away, or there may not even be any archives. There are, however, some ways to tackle the problem, and some detective work to be done. To find the body of material, you need clues – but how to find and identify them? In the talk, we will look at translators’ paratexts, their correspondence (with authors, with publishers) and the kinds of issues that can be gleaned from these sources, shedding light on past translators’ everyday work and life. We cannot ask them questions – but we can certainly listen to them.

 

Outi Paloposki is professor of English at the University of Turku (Finland), School of Languages and Translation Studies. Her research interests include history of translation, retranslations, translators and their agency, translation criticism and the linguistic profiles and role of translations in Finland. She was one of the editors of the two-volume history of literary translation into Finnish, published by the Finnish Literature Society in 2007, and of its companion volume, history of non-fiction translation into Finnish (2013).

Translation Studies methodology and translation history figure as her top teaching priorities.

Contact: Outi.paloposki@utu.fi

Website: https://www.utu.fi/en/people/outi-paloposki

About: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/Person/1202275?auxfun=&lang=en_GB